A Heart That Waits

Isaiah 40:30-31 "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

I have done a lot of waiting lately. I wait for my son when I take him to physical therapy and doctor appointments. I wait on both of my sons, five days a week as they finish up swim practice. Each day it seems that I have an opportunity to wait. Perhaps God is trying to teach me something.

Today is one of those times when I have a lot of things I want to accomplish at home but find myself not having a lot of time to actually be home. I waited for my son at physical therapy for an hour this morning. This afternoon I will have several hours of waiting as I watch my sons' swim meet.

Sometimes I do well with waiting. Other times not so well - I guess it has to do with not being gifted with patience! :) This morning as I waited I worked on addressing my Christmas cards. We still have not mailed them because we have been waiting for a chip to arrive in the mail for our printer. Without the chip, we have been unable to copy our family newsletter which we include in our cards each year. It finally arrived in the mail today.

After I finished my cards I still had time to wait. I kept thinking about the things at home that were needing my attention. I tried not to fret about it. I did manage to go back home for about two hours and was able to get a fair amount accomplished with the help of my two sons. I couldn't have done it without them.

Later as I sat waiting for the swim meet to start, I started thinking about waiting. I know that the Israelites had a long wait between the Old Testament time period and the New Testament. They went many years without hearing any word from the Lord. But yet they never forgot the promise that was given to them. A line from a previous cantata that I sang in said, "Waiting, waiting, waiting for Emmanuel to appear. Always believing the Savior will soon be here." They did not give up. They continued to hope and believe that the Messiah would come as foretold.

Then one night in a quiet little stable Jesus came into the world as a newborn. Not many people took notice. A few shepherds from the surrounding countryside. Little did the world know that the Savior was finally here! It was worth the wait.

ACTIVITY

As you find times when you have to wait, stop and thank God.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, thank you for your faithfulness in providing Jesus at the perfect time. Help me to be patient and wait when You ask me to.